Pricing Blunder Lands Daily Sport In Hot Water
Sport Newspapers, publishers of the Sunday and Daily Sport, faces the prospect of legal action after being referred to the Office of Fair Trading by the advertising watchdog.
The argument erupted earlier this year after the Advertising Standards Authority ruled that a front-page flash on the Daily Sport and Sunday Sport was misleading consumers.
The statement in question read ‘Daily Sport 10p Today’ and was ruled to have implied that the newspaper cost 10p, while small print under the text revealed that it was actually a promotion for a magazine and that the newspaper’s price remained at its normal 40p.
Since the debacle, Sport Newspapers has refused to sign assurances to the ASA that it would comply with the ruling. Following the use of similar text in the Sunday Sport on 23 May, the ASA has referred the matter to the OFT to consider taking legal action.
Commenting on the regulator’s decision, ASA director of advertising practice Roger Wisbey, said: “Publishers, advertisers and advertising agencies all have a responsibility to comply with the advertising industry’s own code of practice. Sport Newspapers has persisted in publishing misleading promotions and so the ASA has resorted to the self-regulatory system’s legal backstop by asking the OFT to consider further action.”
This is not the first time Sport Newspapers has clashed with the ASA. In 2001 the regulator banned a series of ads for air guns that featured in the Daily Sport on the grounds that they glamorised the use of offensive weapons.
The ads offered readers the opportunity to call a premium line phone number to receive a selection of guns, describing them as ‘double barrel shotguns’ and ‘rapid fire machine guns’. The adverts sparked a number of complaints from readers across the UK who felt that they were both offensive, irresponsible and misleading (see ASA Raps Daily Sport For Irresponsible Gun Ads).
ASA: 020 7580 5555 www.asa.org.uk Sport Newspapers: 0161 236 4466
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